(2014) Longmire tries to find 3 missing women connected to a supposed suicide of a former police detective in a neighboring county. As he nears the climax, he manages to escape death in a blizzard and then again while trying to rescue one of the girls from a coal train. Comes down to the last second when Lucian shoots at the train loading operator to keep Longmire from being buried by the coal as it is filled up at a mine. KIRKUS REVIEWA favor for an old friend puts Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire in a tough spot.Longmire is due to fly to Philadelphia for the birth of his daughter Cady's first child. But when his friend and former boss Lucian Connally asks for help, he can't say no. Detective Gerald Holman has committed suicide in a neighboring county whose sheriff is willing to have Longmire investigate at the behest of the widow, who refuses to believe her straight-arrow husband could do such a thing. Since his retirement, Holman had been working on cold cases¥some of which aren't so cold, like the disappearance of a bright young woman who was working as an exotic dancer at Dirty Shirley's to replenish her college fund. Looking more closely into the case, Longmire finds that several other women have also gone missing from the area. Though they seem to have nothing in common, he has to consider a possible serial killer. Tracking another of the missing women to Deadwood, S.D., almost gets Longmire and his friend Henry, aka the Cheyenne Nation, killed. That's only Longmire's first brush with death as he looks for answers that someone is willing to kill to keep hidden.Once more, you can count on Longmire (A Serpent's Tooth, 2013, etc.) for action both physical and cerebral, a bit of humor and romance, and a mighty good mystery.Pub Date: May 13th, 2014ISBN: 978-0-670-02646-3Page count: 336ppPublisher: VikingReview Posted Online: March 16th, 2014Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1st, 2014

Longmire's former boss, Lucian Connolly, has asked him to look into the apparent suicide of a detective in neighboring Campbell County, an old friend who had been investigating the disappearances of several local women. Nothing is quite what it seems, except, apparently, the suicide itself, which neither Lucian nor the man's wife wants to believe. This one taxed my patience and my credulity...Walt has his priorities all screwed up, in my opinion, and the author stretches the suspense (and his character's endurance) beyond tolerable limits. ( )

Always a pleasure to visit with Walt Longmire and his friends, especially after reading fairly brutal stories that I often read; it provides a nice break. Makes me want to go out and buy a Stetson western hat.

His deputy, Vic, is back from her injuries, and she's always a nice addition to the stories. She sort of adds a sharpness to the humor. So we get Vic's "Fuck me!" in addition to Walt's "Boy howdy!"

The story is pretty complex, and moves along slowly, as usual. If you're looking for lots of action, you'll have to be patient, but if you like the humorous back and forth of the various characters of the west, then you'll be OK. It turns out to be a pretty serious crime, but it takes a long time to get there. I can't discuss the actual crimes without spoiling the story a bit, so I won't. ( )

Sometimes I think Walt Longmire takes his job to serious. As Lucian Connally, his old boss, says about Walt in this book; "Because he's like a gun; once you point him and pull the trigger, it's too late to change your mind." That sums up Walt pretty well. He just can't let go of things. Even when he gets hurt, and let me tell you, he usually ends up with at least one visit to the hospital in every book, at least it feels like that.

Lucian asks him for a favor in this book, a simple request to visit a widow to a recently deceased police. She doesn’t believe that her husband killed himself and Walt agrees to look into the suicide even though all evidence points to suicide and not murder, and even though his daughter Cady is in Philadelphia ready to give birth and want her daddy there.  Luckily he has his friend Henry Standing Bear and his trusty deputy Vic Moretti by his side.

I probably had too high expectations after the last book. The ending in the last book had me in bits since I was worried that one of my favorite characters wouldn’t pull through and also since the ending revealed something unexpected and tragic. I found the case in this book a bit lacking. The book was never dull to read, but the case, the suicide that led to missing women wasn’t just my cup of tea. It just never really got intense, not even the ending. It was a good book, but since I have waited to read it for months, longing for it, to have Vic and Walt to have the big talk about what happened in the last book and they just skimmed the surface. So now I have to wait for the next book to see if they will have a heart to heart. I liked it better when I had all the published books to go through instead of this hellish waiting... ( )

Sometimes I think Walt Longmire takes his job to serious. As Lucian Connally, his old boss, says about Walt in this book; "Because he's like a gun; once you point him and pull the trigger, it's too late to change your mind." That sums up Walt pretty well. He just can't let go of things. Even when he gets hurt, and let me tell you, he usually ends up with at least one visit to the hospital in every book, at least it feels like that.

Lucian asks him for a favor in this book, a simple request to visit a widow to a recently deceased police. She doesn’t believe that her husband killed himself and Walt agrees to look into the suicide even though all evidence points to suicide and not murder, and even though his daughter Cady is in Philadelphia ready to give birth and want her daddy there.  Luckily he has his friend Henry Standing Bear and his trusty deputy Vic Moretti by his side.

I probably had too high expectations after the last book. The ending in the last book had me in bits since I was worried that one of my favorite characters wouldn’t pull through and also since the ending revealed something unexpected and tragic. I found the case in this book a bit lacking. The book was never dull to read, but the case, the suicide that led to missing women wasn’t just my cup of tea. It just never really got intense, not even the ending. It was a good book, but since I have waited to read it for months, longing for it, to have Vic and Walt to have the big talk about what happened in the last book and they just skimmed the surface. So now I have to wait for the next book to see if they will have a heart to heart. I liked it better when I had all the published books to go through instead of this hellish waiting... ( )